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Friday, November 30, 2012

Yes the time has finally come...to find out what my AJE team mates, giveaway winners and hop participants have done with the bronze snowflakes I sent them. I've heard whispers that these were quite challenging to work with...or was that just me talking to myself? Anyway, I'm sure wonderful things have been done nonetheless so without further ado lets get started and please joint me by hopping through the links below.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

I love Moo's minicards, especially for using as tags on jewellery boxes and bags. I love the fact that you can have as many different photos as you have cards without any extra cost, and I love the quality of them. However, I do not love the price, and, especially nowadays, I cannot afford to buy them in the quantity I need them! So, when I had a voucher recently to get some Vistaprint business cards at a cheaper price I thought I'd have a go at creating my own mini business cards. I expect that this is far from the first tutorial that has been written on how to do this, but this is how I did it!

First of all, these are the first set of cards that I ordered. I need three slightly different designs - one for my Notonthehighstreet.com shop with the name "Daisychain Designs" (I didn't want to use Daisychain Jewellery there as I didn't want the word jewellery on the postage labels), one for my Daisychain Jewellery website and etsy shop, and one for my Daisychain Extra components shop. I just ordered one lot first to try it out! This design is blank on the reverse as I use them as gift tags.

And this is how I made the image for my Daisychain Extra cards!

Note: I use Paint.net to edit my photos. It may not always look as pretty as Photoshop etc, but it does everything I need it to do, there's great online help for it - and it's free to download!

1. Open up Vistaprint and navigate to where you can upload your own image for the premium business cards (I'm assuming here that the US version of the site looks much the same as the UK version!)

2. Click on the "download a template" link to get up the window shown below so that you can see the pixel sizes you need. It's the document trim ones that are important.

3. Open up Paint.net and click to get a new document. Change the pixel width to 1028 and the height to 579 (the document trim sizes). Vistaprint recommend that the resolution be set to 300 pixels/inch

4. Repeat step 3 to open a second document, this time at half the height (but the same width) as the first. You will be able to toggle between the two documents when you need to by clicking on the thumbnails in the top right of the screen.

5. Copy and paste onto the shorter blank document the images you want to use on your mini business card, resizing them to fit as necessary. Then click on the "rectangle select" button on the left and drag the cursor across your image to select it. Copy the image.

6. Paste the mini-business card image onto the larger blank document that you created in step 3, and paste it again so that you've got one image above the other. Save your hard work!

7.Go back to the Vistaprint site and press the button to browse for and upload your image.

8. If, after you've uploaded it, important bits of information (such as your business name!) are partly outside of the dotted line, go back a couple of steps in Paint.net and resize the images you have used. I had to decrease the size of my logo slightly the first time I did this.

9. If you want text on the back, prepare a second image using the same pixel sizes as you did for the front of the card. Add text on Paint.net by clicking on the "T". You can change the font style and size in the same way as you would in any Microsoft office document.

10. And this is my reverse image uploaded!

If you have managed to stay with me throughout all those images, congratulations! I hope that you find this useful. You can use this method to create your own templates for most of the Vistaprint products. You can also, if you wish, create a template with two different images, one on each half, rather than using the same images for both halves as I did on my templates.

P.S. You also had a sneak preview of my new logos on this tutorial - I was hoping to have uploaded them onto my blog, etsy shops etc before I wrote this blog, but, well, it the Component of the Month reveal tomorrow, and playing with beads and wire is always a higher priority than website work - I'll do it next week!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

When it comes to jewelry, if it isn't a wedding ring or a watch, the men in my family don't wear it. My teenage son won't wear jewelry even though I see other teenage boys wearing it all the time. This means my designing for men "muscle" is pretty weak. However, I have been trying to create some jewelry designs geared specifically towards men using leather and heavy chainmaille etc.

I have not been making beads specifically for men because I tend to make what I like, which involves lots of pink, purple, and blue like these (also, the men in my household have told me beads aren't for men and I guess I believed them....big mistake!):

However, I have a male customer who loves the Nightmare Insomnia series, thinks it's very masculine, and has requested I try to make them specifically with men in mind. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to not pick up some of the "girlie" colors? Well...for me it's very difficult.

Before I even started my first torch session, I had a plan so I didn't grab for the pink or purple. This is what I came up with during my first try:

These use a black base wrapped in fine silver foil, ivory colored stringer designs (glass rod that has been pulled to the same diameter as a string). Then encased in clear to magnify the effect of the silver droplets and the organic reactions look of the stringer.

I have lots of color combos that I dreamed up and still need to try.

Do you design jewelry or components for men? What kind of tips do you have?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

There are many ways to add silver to your glass beads! One way is to add fine silver wire. I'm not sure why, but you are supposed to use fine
silver wire as opposed to the silver jewelry wire you might have on
hand. (I have since learned that it's because fine silver is pure silver, while sterling has copper in it). I order my fine silver wire from Monsterslayer. I like them and
they always have up-to-date pricing as the silver market is so volatile
lately. I use 30 gauge silver wire, but there are different gauges
available. I like 30 gauge because it's more delicate. If you want to
use higher gauge wire, you can get different effects, like actually
placing thought-out dots on your bead!
I cut easily usable lengths of silver wire (about 9 inches or so) and
clip the hemos at the measure I want to use. If I'm applying it to a
round bead, I usually clip at about 2-3 inches. Fine silver wire will
disappear in your flame, so make sure you work waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out at
the end of the flame. Barely touch the silver wire to the bead under
the flame, move the bead away, and quickly wrap the wire around the
bead. When you've reached the end of your clipped wire, flame cut the
silver, and then very delicately melt the silver wire at the end of the
flame into the bead. This is how you get the trailing dots.

Monday, November 26, 2012

You might be reading this with a delicious turkey sandwich made from leftovers (my favorite part) but I hope the holiday found you well. I have many things to be thankful for and one of them is my online community of fellow artists, beaders, and like minded friends.

Without further ado - the December Component of the Month:

When I decided on this symbol as the piece for December - I was thinking ahead to the reveal date. The end of December - New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The labyrinth differs from a maze in that a labyrinth has one path in to the center. Mazes are designed to confound with dead ends and the like. Labyrinths are found in many cultures around the world, and in many styles. Found in cathedrals, Medieval labyrinths were seen as a symbolic path to God. They often served as a substitute to a religious pilgrimage. Native American labyrinths can represent a path to an ancestor, in a search for wisdom, or even the ancestor himself. A famous mythic labyrinth was that on the isle of Crete, where dwelt the Minotaur. Half bull and half man, he was slated by the hero Theseus with the help of Ariadne.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the labyrinth. Walking a labyrinth can aid in attaining a contemplative state- as the body is occupied the mind can at times find clarity. They are used as a walking meditation and often located at churches and retreat centers. As they are a path to the center, your center, your self...they can provide insight and at times inspiration. With New Year's being a time where we all feel resolved to start fresh- I found this an appropriate symbol for the Component of the Month!

Where will your path take you in 2013? There may be twists and turns, you may lose sight of the destination at times, but if you have faith and stay on your path, all will be well.

How this challenge and blog hop will work (please read all the information carefully!)

I will give away 1 component to each of 5 winners selected randomly from those who leave comments below this post. The color sent will be a surprise for the winners.

Please include your EMAIL address in your comment so that I can contact you ASAP should you win.

Please - only leave a comment if you can commit to creating a finished piece and blogging about it within the time given.

The names of the 5 winners will be announced on November 30th 2012.

This giveaway is open to US, Canadian, UK and European countries.

The blog reveal will be on December 31, 2012.

Should you want to participate and your name is not drawn from the proverbial hat - I will be listing more on my Etsy site on Monday November 26th when I return from Thanksgiving!

A week after Hurricane Sandy messed up my home state of NJ we had a snow storm. My brother didn't get nearly as much snow as I did but he captured some nice photos in his area (Thanks Joey!). This early snow inspired my latest pair of earrings, "Frosty Gears".

A little Steampunk and a whole lot winter, these icy earrings feature some fabulous art beads!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Do you ever find that one day when you sit down in front of your
ever-growing stash of beads that your mind draws a total blank? You
suddenly feel like maybe you're not as good at making jewelry as you
felt you were just other day when you finished that stunning masterpiece
that all your friends adored?

What's wrong with you!?

Nothing. Don't worry, it's normal. All of us have those days.

Sometimes
you just need to take a break, try a different approach, or learn
something totally new. It can only get better, and not just
your technique will improve, but also your style. Jewelry making is an
ever-evolving thing.

So, for today I'm sharing
two color palettes captured in beautiful rural Virgina and have paired
them up with some fabulous art beads all handmade by the talented
members of AJE. I hope that these will spark your imagination!

Each
photo below is linked to Etsy, so if you see something you just have to
have (I know you will!), simply click on it and buy. And don't forget
to grab our coupon code AJEHOLIDAY for some outstanding savings!

Okay,
so you reached the end of my post (almost) and your not quite ready to
make your own jewelry, or maybe you just want that perfect piece of
jewelry for your sister, your mom, your best friend… yourself… we have
those too! And yes they're on sale. Use code AJEHOLIDAY and click on the
photos to shop.

I have a confession. This secret I carry with me is a huge embarrassment to my family. But I am going to share it with you anyway. I hate cooking. Hate. It. With a passion. It's just SO TEDIOUS. So while my AJE teammates are all sharing their delicious recipes, my secret is festering and about to cause me to explode.

It is with much delight that I share a meme that was going around on facebook a couple days before Thanksgiving, and is totally relevant to Christmas too. It is perhaps the only way I could tolerate hosting a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner at my house.

And with that, we are signing off for the night! Hope you have enjoyed the day with us and if you missed any of the posts, please go back and peruse because some of us actually had really interesting and helpful information to share...unlike this meme and my deep dark secret.

I will be drawing a winner for the Bead Soup book at about 10:15. So if you haven't entered, get there quick!

******

This post is part of the Art Jewelry Elements 2012 Holiday Open House.

I have been at a "Frosty Friday" art (not!) show today, so I hope you will forgive me for recycling a post from my blog from 2010!

Experiencing the yearly Christmas tree adventure always brings certain memories to mind...for those of you who don' know, I was born and raised in the Deep South...Alabama! The very first scent of green, citrus-y, woodsy tree smell remind me of going out in the woods with my Daddy, and a few of my siblings, probably in the back of his old black pickup truck to find a suitable tree and possibly some mistletoe to hang. Daddy and my brother were hunters and usually had the perfect tree already scoped out! It was usually cedar and Daddy would put it in a 5-gallon bucket full of wet sand and it would go in front of the big picture window in the front room of our little house.

We didn't have alot of money, especially for a lot of store-bought Christmas ornaments...there were some gorgeous huge glass balls that I remember hanging on the tree every year but I also vividly remember the hand-made decorations we made every year. Like the little sweet-gum balls that we spray painted and decorated with glitter.

I also remember cutting a big star out of cardboard, covering it with aluminum foil and then cutting a hole in the middle so that one of the big lights could fit inside it for the top of the tree.

Gosh, I always loved decorating that tree! After I was older, our handcrafted ornaments became a bit more sophisticated. My sister Susan and I made a whole bunch of scrap fabric-covered balls decorated with sparkly rick-rack, fake pearls and seed beads with straight pins and glue...When Mama died and we divvied up things I took a few to hang on my tree..I love them, even though they are about to fall apart. Maybe I will make some new ones!

circa the 70's!

After moving away from my hometown and living on my own, I did some ornament making on my own...here are some little clothespin and paper angels...love the one with pasta hair!

One year I got ambitious and tried to duplicate a stuffed angel I saw in a magazine...only I didn't have a sewing machine, so I stitched her and her friends all up by hand. I gave them as gifts that year.